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All Wheel Drive Co Ltd
ALL WHEEL DRIVE COMPANY LIMITED ( AWD Co Ltd) 1954-67 VICKERS AWD LIMITED (Vickers-AWD Ltd) 1962-71 ' ' All Wheel Drive Company Ltd '''was started in early 1954. This wellknown firm was based at Camberley in Surrey and were more commonly known by the initials '''AWD. They were specialized in offering vehicles with all the wheels driven by converting vehicle chassis with all wheel driven special axles and modified 4WD, 6WD and 8WD '''transmissions and built offroad heavy duty chassis for several domestic manufacturers mostly for the construction industry aimed at British loaders, mobilecranes and dumptrucks. This company worked from a large warehouse in central Camberley where goods vehicles and other roadmachines were converted for go anywhere driving but retained their running gears and '''AWD Ltd '''accepted orders and contract deals from numerous British manufacturers and most of AWD vehicles manufactured were cranecarriers for external makes and a also number of farmtractors and loaders were made too. History truck crane on AWD crane carrier]] The company was formed in 1954 by John Andrews and Neil Davis two mechanical experts who had bought a secondhand County 4X4 tractor and decided to partially break it to understand how their tractor mechanicals worked and that triggered the decision to go-ahead with their new company. So they rebuilt it again and took some interesting ideas in how to use 4WD layout in trucks after that and gave them experience enough in the off highway truck market and decided to construct a couple of 6x6 lorry prototype units based on the famous AEC Matador 4X4 model. AEC were one of the very few UK truckmakes to include a 4X4 model in their range so they were quite impressed and showed an almost imediate interest in the AWD Prototype One that was later to reappear as the '''AEC-AWD 6WD cranecarrier '''one of them built is shown here.Except for Leyland, Foden and Scammell most of the other major UK lorry manufactures were not geared up to supply users with low volume or one-off models, so AWD Ltd quickly gained orders to supply them with these AWD go anywhere specials. By 1960 they had built a 1000 machines and more than 1300 by 1961. The '''AEC Millitant '''chassis was converted for use as a mobile excavator by Blaw-Knox and a mobilecrane was made by Jones Cranes using a new '''AWD-Foden 6x6 '''cranecarrier both of these as an order from the MOD. Leeds based cranetruck maker called Smith Rodley made several 6x6 models on '''AWD-Leyland Hippos '''chassis. The Ford Thames Trader a much longer version of the standard Ford Thames was also converted to be used as a offroad dumptruck that sold reasonably well while this classic lorry remained available new. Later by the early 1960s Jones Cranes Limited of Letchworth started a close and friendly mechanical engineering business with '''AWD Co Ltd '''who agreed to manufacture and supply Jones crane and mobilecrane firm with brandnew 6X6 cranecarriers already built with one-man cab on the left or right corner at the front and both companies worked together closely ever since. This became an instant success for both manufacturers and Jones were quickly one of their biggest if not the highest customer for AWD Co Ltd while Jones Cranes enjoyed tremendous cranes sales at the time. '''Not to be confused by a second '''small engineering concern of the same name called '''AWD Engineering Limited '''of the early 1970s from Dunstable in Bedfordshire that closed in late 1992 and were the makers of a special range for their own neighbours, '''BEDFORD-Marshall AWD '''and '''DODGE-Marshall AWD '''offroad vehicles later the firm was itself purchased by '''Marshall SPV Ltd of Cambridge hence those names and makes only selected Bedford and Dodge 4X4 and 6X6 lorry and tractor conversions solely for these two lorry manufacturers under the British GMC management. The whole business and production rights was then reorganized and resumed by another British major important and independent mechanical engineering larger firm called Vickers Limited ( NOT the UK '''Bulldozer and Tractor firm of the same name ) in 1962 who was then later renamed as '''Vickers All Wheel Drive Limited or Vickers AWD Ltd '''for short who were from South Marston in Wiltshire until 1971. Around 1968 the company restarted manufacturing selected '''AWD-Jones, Iron Fairy, Priestman and''' Smith''' large cranecarriers and this time they used the latest TD mechanicals and modern hydraulics too for their new heavy vehicles and some of them even used many automatic transmissions, most cranecarriers with fulltime 6WD and 8WD chassis, had larger oneman cabs and hydraulic jacks for stability on any ground and employing these tecniques too for opening and closing the cranejibs and telescopic arms so every model this company produced became known as the Vickers- AWD V-500 Series cranecarriers '''although some versions carried a low version of the famous '''British Motor Panels two men cab'.' The whole manufacturing and business was later acquired and run by the independent The Group 600 empire in 1971''' and these cranecarrier models were sold as '''Crane Travellers '''a subsidiary and after part of the giant '''Jones Cranes Limited. Contracts and Orders * Batch of 15 Excavator carriers for 'NCK Ltd '''of Sheffield. * Batch of 50 Leyland Comets 4x4 trucks for Burmah Oil Co. * Crane chassis for AEC 6X6 Diesel models of * Crane chassis for some '''BHCC Iron Fairy Ltd '''of Compton. * Crane chassis for '''Douglas Equipment Ltd ' * Crane chassis for Jones Cranes Ltd of Letchworth. * Crane chassis for 'Leyland Motors Ltd. ' * Crane chassis for Thomas Smith & Sons (Rodley) Ltd of Leeds. * Design and development work for brand Michigan Loaders. * Development and manufacturing of several original one-man offroad cranecarriers. * Ford D-Series 6WD lorries used as 6X6 tractors for the Army. * Ford Thames conversion in 4X4 and 6X6 for construction and forestry work. * Special Axles for AEC and earthmover makes Bray and Weatherill. * Special Gearboxes for AEC and other domestic brands. * Various AEC lorry conversions for the MOD and RAF. * Various cranecarriers made for Bedford, ERF/Foden and other UK lorrybrands. Preserved machines Do any of these survive ? See also *Commercial vehicles *Glossary Index References *Classic Plant & Machinery Magazine, vol 2 no.5, Pt 1, page 28, by Nick Baldwin. Links Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Category:Truck manufacturers All Wheel Drive Ltd